Systems and methods for virtual interactions

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for virtual interactions are described. One or more users can view or listen to media, react to the media and share such media experience virtually with others. The media experience can take place synchronously, asynchronously or both.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 13/475,884 filed on May 18, 2012, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 61/488,584, filed on May 20, 2011,both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to social media. Moreover, it relates tosystems and methods for virtual interactions.

BACKGROUND

Social networking has emerged as one of the most popular pastimes on theInternet, at least partly because it mimics what people do in the realworld: converse, have dialogs, tickle each other's egos, and makedisplays to their networks. But fundamentally, the Web remains a verysolitary experience. Community involvement is limited mostly to verbalcomments, replies and likes.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect, a computer-implemented method of sharing aninteractive experience is described, the method comprising: providing acentral server connected to a network and configured to be connected toa plurality of client computer terminals through the network, each ofthe plurality of client computer terminals adapted to stream a videofrom the network; streaming the video on the plurality of clientcomputer terminals, the video being viewed by a first user and at leastone second user, the first user and the at least one second userindependently receiving streaming video on separate client computerterminals, wherein the streaming to the first user and the at least onesecond user occurs synchronously such that a playback timing of thestreaming video occurs at the same time on all users' client computerterminals; capturing commentary of the first user and the at least onesecond user with a commentary capturing device, the capturing beingperformed while the first user and the at least one second user view thevideo; and playing back the commentary of the first user on the clientcomputer terminal of the at least one second user and/or vice versa,while streaming the video.

According to a second aspect, a computer-implemented method of sharingan interactive experience is described, the method comprising: providinga central server connected to a network and configured to be connectedto a plurality of client computer terminals through the network, each ofthe plurality of client computer terminals adapted to stream a videofrom the network; streaming the video to a client computer terminal ofthe first user of the plurality of client computer terminals, whereinthe video is being viewed by the first user; capturing commentary of thefirst user with a commentary capturing device, the capturing beingperformed while the first user views the video; storing the commentaryof the first user on the central server; and streaming the video to aclient computer terminal of the second user, wherein the video is beingviewed by the second user while simultaneously playing back thecommentary of the first user on the client computer terminal of thesecond user, wherein the streaming by the second user occursasynchronously from the streaming by the first user.

According to a third aspect, a computer-implemented system for sharingan interactive experience is described, the system comprising: a centralserver connected to a network and configured to be connected to aplurality of client computer terminals through the network, each of theplurality of client computer terminals adapted to stream a video fromthe network; and a commentary capturing device adapted to capturecommentary of one or more users while the one or more users view thevideo, wherein the client computer terminals are adapted to playback thecommentary of the one or more users simultaneously while streaming thevideo.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of thepresent disclosure and, together with the description of exampleembodiments, serve to explain the principles and implementations of thedisclosure.

FIG. 1 shows a screenshot of an example video that can be viewed by auser.

FIG. 2 shows an example block diagram of a virtual interaction system ina synchronous mode.

FIG. 3 shows an example block diagram of a virtual interaction system inan asynchronous mode.

FIG. 4 shows an example hardware configuration of a user's end of thevirtual interaction system.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of a virtual interaction system operating in asynchronous mode.

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of the virtual interaction system operating inan asynchronous mode.

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of the virtual interaction system operatingwith a portable camera.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A virtual interactive system is disclosed that enables users to sharetheir interactive experiences with others or themselves, eithersimultaneously or at a later time (asynchronously). For example, two ormore people can share an experience on the Internet by a combination ofbrowsing together and viewing the same media (e.g., videos, webpages,music, pictures, etc.) at the same time, sharing control of theexperience, seeing each other's facial expressions, and hearing eachother's voices, laughter and/or crying.

In some embodiments, users can check who is online or press one buttonor key to have a software application automatically invite any group orset of people to a virtual date or activity. By way of example and notof limitation, friends can be added to the virtual date or activity bypressing a button corresponding to the friend. Thus, couples can go on avirtual date, and fans can attend a virtual viewing of a sports event.At such virtual viewing of sport events, the fans can see which friendsare also in virtual attendance, as well as meet strangers who might havecommon interests.

In some embodiments, invitation to other users to share the interactiveexperience can be accomplished, for example, by sending an invitationusing a variety of methods, including an automated phone call, textmessage, app push notification or email to invitees.

While sharing an experience (e.g., dating, event attendance, etc.) inthe real world typically occurs in real-time (e.g., when people attendthe same event at the same place at the same time), some embodiments ofthe present disclosure can allow sharing an experience asynchronously byrecording and subsequently playing back the recorded experience. By wayof example and not of limitation, a first user can watch a movie whileusing a computer, a microphone and/or a camera to record the firstuser's reactions to the movie or the event. When a second user wants toparticipate in the shared experience, either simultaneously or at alater time, the second user's reactions are recorded while he/sheexperiences (e.g., hears and sees) the reactions of previousparticipants. Each participant can choose which users to share theirexperience with. Furthermore, the users can specifically select whichuser to share the different aspects of interactive sharing. For example,the user can choose to share only voice interaction with one user butchoose to share both the voice interaction and video interaction withanother user.

In some embodiments, the user can choose to hear all users that areattending the virtual event (e.g., roar of the entire crowd to a virtualsporting event), but choose to only see the face of his girlfriend.Alternatively, the user can choose to hear his buddy's comments, butonly faintly hear the other users as a distant, aggregate blur ofcheers. According to yet another embodiment, the user can choose to onlysee comments by a preselected group, such as a group comprising users hehas determined to be safe.

In some embodiments, asynchronous experience sharing can allow a personto share the experience with their previous self. By way of example andnot of limitation, a user can say something while watching a video.Then, a friend can watch the same video at a later time and saysomething while watching the video. In response to the comment made bythe friend, the user can then react to the previous comments and saysomething further, and so on. Over time, such interactions canaccumulate as layers of commentary, reaction, sight, and sound.

In some embodiments, the user can be automatically notified as a newlayer is added to the experience. By way of example and not oflimitation, the user can be notified, and choose to experience only thenew layer (e.g., just hear the new comment, reaction, etc.), or chooseto re-experience the entire experience with the new layer, or anycombination of layers thereof.

In some embodiments, the experience can be edited so that only thedesired interactions are saved and the undesired interactions aredeleted. For example, if another user makes a hurtful comment, thatcomment can be deleted. If a particular action is too slow, such actioncan be sped up.

In some embodiments, the digital shared experience can include hapticsensors and actuators to provide shared virtual touch such that theusers will be able to live and relive their favorite experiences. Suchexperiences can include, for example, digital asynchronous sexualencounters.

In some embodiments, an audio reaction from each viewer of a media piece(e.g., video) can be recorded unless the users choose to opt out. When aviewer watches the video, the user can hear a mix of the originalsoundtrack and a weighted combination of the audio reactions recordedfrom each of the other viewers. By way of example and not of limitation,the volume of audio reactions from friends can be weighted higher thanfor the audio reactions from non-friends. Users can toggle any audioreactions on or off. Non-friends can be grouped so that all non-friendscan be toggled on or off simultaneously. Each of the audio reactions canbe rated by other users. The top rated audio reaction(s) can be sharableto all users, and not just friends, and can be labeled with a specialname (e.g., star or DJ of that video). Users can record over theirprevious audio recording, thereby allowing the user to delete the oldaudio recording or combining with it the previous recording.

In some embodiments, the user can select to hear a crowd as it wouldsound when surrounded by a certain group of people, for example, asports team.

In some embodiments, the media contents can be augmented by extending,expanding or enhancing the media to supplement a media viewer'sexperience with reactions of friends, entertainers, and others. By wayof example and not of limitation, by augmenting the media, viewers canshare the experience of viewing the media with friends or loved ones, orhear a roar of thousands of people as if the viewer was watching thevideo in a stadium full of sports fans. Therefore, the feeling of energyand companionship can be brought to every video without the constraintsof time and space.

Many videos are homemade videos created as a consequence of a particularvideo (e.g., Lady Gaga's music video). Yet such homemade videos can bedisjoined, hard to find, and virtually difficult to find the best ormost relevant version. Evolution is a powerful creative mechanism.Evolution has three key ingredients: variation (generation of manyvariants of any given genotype), selection (to select the most fit) andheredity (to ensure that the adaptations selected for are present inprogeny, or future variations). By way of example and not of limitation,existing methods of video production and distribution generate variation(each person can create their own copy of another), heredity (althoughdifficult, it is possible to copy a video and modify it), and selection(the most liked videos are spread socially by sharing), but suchmechanisms can be very inefficient. There is no simple way for a viewerto find the best “version” or “daughter” of any particular videolineage, thus selection can be very haphazard. Heredity can be poorbecause video-editing and sharing sites do not make it easy or evenpossible to modify another person's video. Online tools can be difficultto generate variations (e.g., uploading a new soundtrack, superimposingtwo soundtracks, inserting clips, removing clips, etc.). Furthermore, itcan be nearly impossible for users at large to improve an originalversion of a video, which can often be the most commonly found video dueto its age, which can often lead to higher number of views.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, by allowingviewers to rate each video and/or soundtracks, and further, allowing theviewers to enhance such video or soundtracks (e.g., not just theoriginal video's creator), and further, by grouping various versions ormodifications of any given video or media piece (e.g., song,composition), the best rated soundtrack and/or version of each video canbe available to all future viewers of the digital video (e.g., as anoptional soundtrack, in addition to the original soundtrack). Theviewers can then combine the responses to the video with another video,aggregating them in one place, and making it easier to find the mosthighly rated version of any video. Such embodiments can result in anefficient digital video evolution.

Example Implementations

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can operate in asynchronous mode. FIG. 2 shows such example system configured to operatein synchronous mode where two or more users can simultaneously interactusing a computer system (or a similar system capable of viewing media)over a network (208) (e.g., the Internet) while viewing media such as anonline video or picture. By way of example and not of limitation, themedia can be a video from a third party hosted website (204) (e.g.,YOUTUBE®) or the video can be located on a central server (206) that isa part of the virtual interaction system. In the present example, avideo viewing of a live sporting match will be used to describe thevirtual interaction system of the present disclosure. However, thoseskilled in the art would understand that videos and/or pictures of othertypes can be viewed instead of a sporting match.

Herein the present disclosure, the term “commentary” is intended torefer to, by way of example and not of limitation, reactions by the usersuch as, laughing, crying, yelling, speaking, jumping, etc. whilewatching a video on a client computer terminal. Such reactions can berecorded in the form of video, audio, or haptic and stored on a centralserver or shared directly with another user on their client computerterminal. FIG. 5 shows an example flow chart of the virtual interactionsystem operating in a synchronous mode. Initially, a first user (200)can login (500) to the virtual interaction system and access a video ofthe live sporting event either on the third party's website (204) or onthe central server (206) through a network (208). Then, the first user(200) can select a group of friends (501) in which he desires to watchthe video with. The first user and his friends can decide which videothey would like to watch (502), and begin streaming the video (503).

In some embodiments, the user can create a list of friends for which theuser can virtually share the act of watching the video with. Accordingto a first method, the user can import a list of friends from an alreadyexisting online account, such as from a social network account.According to a second method, the user can create a list of friendsbased on people who have accounts with the virtual interaction system ofthe present disclosure. According to a third method, the user can createa list of friends based on a class of friends. In other words, each userof the virtual interaction system can be associated with one or morecategories of classes (e.g., fans of Argentinian soccer, fans ofAmerican baseball, etc.) and the user can create the list of friends byconnecting with the other users associated with the desired classes.According to a fourth method, the virtual interaction system can keep alist of people that have been previously selected by the user to sharethe video with. Thus, the first user (200) can create a list of friendsaccording to one or more of the methods described above, and finallywatch the video with friends selected from the list of friends.Accordingly, the first user (200) can watch the live video with a seconduser (202) (e.g., friend) by synchronizing the timing of the live videobetween the first user and the second user to ensure that they arewatching the same frame of the video at the same time.

In some embodiments, each user can control the video playback. Forexample, the first user (200) may want to pause the video duringplayback. Thus, if the first user (200) pauses the video, the videoplayback for both the first user (200) and the second user (202) will bepaused on their client computer terminals. When it is desired to resumeplayback of the video, either users can start (e.g., un-pause) the videoagain and the video will begin to play on both users' client computerterminals. Alternatively, the system can be configured such that justone of the users can control the video playback. By way of example andnot of limitation, the first user (200) can play and/or pause the video,while the second user (202) can watch the video without having theability to control the playback.

Such users' reactions can be streamed as data from the first user (200)to the second user (202) or vice versa, either directly over the network(208) between the two users' computers (e.g., peer-to-peer) (210), or itcan be routed through the central server of the virtual interactionsystem (206). In order to ensure that, for example, the first user's(200) commentary to the video can be seen or heard by the second user(202) with respect to the same video frame in which the first user (200)actually reacted, a timecode can be associated with the video tomaintain a timing correspondence between the data and the video. Inother words, if the first user cheers because his team scored a goal,the timecode ensures that the second user hears and/or sees the firstuser's cheer when the first user's team actually scored the goal. Thedata comprising the user's commentary can be mixed with the video andthe timecode either at the central server (206) or it can be mixed atthe user's client computer terminals.

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can operate in anasynchronous mode. FIG. 3 shows an example system configured to operatein such asynchronous mode where two or more users can virtually interactwith each other while watching an online media at different times. Anexample situation can be when a group of friends get together to watch amovie, and another friend is unable to join this group of friends towatch the movie together. In such situation, the group of friends canwatch the movie, while their reactions (e.g., comments while watchingthe movie, laughing, etc.) to watching the movie can be recorded on thecentral server (306) of the virtual interaction system. Similarly to thesynchronous mode as described earlier, the central server (306) canassociate a timecode with the video with the recorded reactions from thegroup of friends.

The asynchronous system can be setup in a similar manner as in thesynchronous system using the same or similar accessories such as awebcam, speakers, microphone, or haptic sensors. However, differentlyfrom the synchronous mode, in the asynchronous mode, the commentary ofthe users can be recorded in a memory or database on the central server(306) of the virtual interaction system. Therefore, when a first user(300) (e.g., the group of friends gathering to watch the movie) watchesthe video (304), the webcam and microphone can be configured to recordthe first user's commentary to the video, and stored on the centralserver (306). When a second user (302) (e.g., the person that was unableto join his group of friends to watch the movie) watches the same video(304) by way of the virtual interaction system of the presentdisclosure, the second user (302) can watch and listen to the firstuser's (300) commentary by streaming the video together with therecorded audio/video from the first user (300), or any other friendsthat have previously watched the same video and recorded theircommentary.

FIG. 6 shows an example procedure of the virtual interaction systemoperating in the asynchronous mode. According to a first step, the firstuser logs in (601) to the virtual interaction system via an interface.By using the virtual interaction system, the first user watches a videoand records his commentary (602). Then, at a later moment (e.g., anytimethat is not the same time as the first user) a second user that desiresto watch the same video that the first user has watched, can login tothe virtual interaction system (603). The video is streamed to thesecond user and the second user can choose to listen to the commentaryof the first user (604). The second user can also record his commentary(605) for subsequent users.

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can operate as acombination of synchronous and asynchronous modes. For example, aplurality of users can virtually interact while watching an online mediaat the same time in the synchronous mode, and those users' commentariescan be recorded on the central server. Then, at a different time (e.g.,later, next day, next week) one or more users can watch the same onlinemedia and replay the recorded commentaries stored on the central serverin the asynchronous mode.

FIG. 4 shows an example system where the users can configure theircomputer (400) to have accessories such as a webcam (402), speakers(408), microphone (404), or haptic sensors to convey their reactionsand/or emotions to the other users while watching the video. Forexample, as the first user watches the video and thinks it's funny, thefirst user might laugh. The webcam (402) and the microphone (404) can beconfigured to capture the first user's laugh both visually and audibly.The second user can have speakers (408) configured to hear the firstperson's commentary (e.g., laugh) and view the commentary in real-timeover a network, thereby allowing the users to virtually interact witheach other while watching the video, even though they may physically bein different locations.

In some embodiments, a virtual interaction system can be implemented ina computer readable media located on a central server. Such computerreadable media can be a hard drive, solid state drive, memory, opticaldisks such as CD-ROM or DVD based storage, magneto-optical storage, orany other type of data storage media. The central server for the virtualinteraction system can include one or more central processing units(CPUs) to control the overall operation. The virtual interaction systemcan communicate with social network websites through a network, such asa wide area network (WAN) and/or a local area network (LAN). The clientcomputers used by the users with the virtual interaction system can be,for example, a personal computer (PC), a mobile device, workstation,smartphone, etc. The person skilled in the art would appreciate thatvariations and/or combinations of different types of computers andservers can be used.

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can stream videosfrom a third party (e.g., YOUTUBE®) website. On the other hand, eachuser's commentary is stored on the central server and associated with atimecode so that the commentary matches the correct timing of thestreaming video on the third party website. The matching of thecommentary with the streaming of the video can take place at each of theusers' client computers. The streaming of the videos can also comprisecaching so that network delays do not cause one stream to fall behindanother stream of video.

In some embodiments, commentaries from each user can be rated by otherusers so that when the users select which commentaries they want tolisten to, they can select to listen to commentaries according to theirrankings. In other words, for example, if a user is watching a soccergame and 100 commentaries are available from the various users, the usercan choose to listen to commentaries from only the five-star ratedusers. According to another embodiment, a personalized algorithm can begenerated by the virtual interaction system in order to automaticallyselect the commentaries that are most likely to be appealing to theuser. Such algorithm can be generated according to the user's history ofvideos and commentaries watched and/or listened to.

In some embodiments, users can visit an interstitial to pick up aniFrame and the virtual interaction system can be implemented using aniFrame layer to track status of the video player, and use thatinformation to keep audio playback synchronized. This can be madeautomated by plug-in/extension. The person skilled in the art wouldappreciate that other types of frames can be implemented inside abrowser instead of an iFrame. Accordingly, a plurality of frames can bearranged within the browser such that one frame can display, forexample, a YOUTUBE® video, whereas another frame can display a video ofanother user.

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can be implementedin a social media application (e.g., FACEBOOK®) where the streamingvideos are videos posted by the plurality of social media users. Linksfrom updates and posts can be viewed in the iFrame layer in the user'sbrowser, while the virtual interaction system records their commentary.

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can be implementedby multiplexing user commentaries on the central server to minimizebandwidth usage. For example, when commentaries from multiple users fora particular video are stored on the central server, the commentary fromeach of the users may be multiplexed on the central server. In this way,when other users want to hear such commentaries, a single multiplexedcommentary can be sent to the user's client computer terminal instead ofmultiple individual commentaries being sent to the client computerterminals. In some embodiments, the users can selectively choose whichcommentary to view/listen to, and which commentary to ignore. By way ofexample and not of limitation, a user may desire to see his friend'sreactions and clearly hear his commentary, while he may be interested inhearing the commentary from others as a background noise.

In some embodiments, the virtual interaction system can have a userinterface that can be displayed on a user's computer display tofacilitate navigating the virtual interaction system. An example userinterface is shown in FIG. 1 where a streaming video (100) from a thirdparty website is being displayed. A section on the right side of thedisplay shows a commentary section (102) where the user can select whichother user's commentary to display or listen to. If the user desires torecord his commentary, the user can start recording an audio or videocommentary by selecting the appropriate icons in the record section(106) or type a description in the description box (104). Checkboxes canbe used to allow the user to select different categories of audio. Popout tabs and menus can be implemented to provide further navigation andcontrol within the user interface. Horizontal bars can be implemented toshow ratings of each video clip and/or category.

In some embodiments, the user interface can be configured to betriggered by an audio or video from a commentary, such that whentriggered, the interface can be configured to display a second window ora picture-in-picture that show the video of the user commentary. Thenwhen the commentary ends, the second window or the picture-in-picturecan disappear.

In some embodiments, a user can wear a wearable camera (e.g., GOPRO®)having a network connection (e.g., Internet) on his body to captureactions from his daily activities. A computer or a smartphone can alsobe connected to the network and configured to view what is beingcaptured by the wearable camera. By way of example and not oflimitation, FIG. 7 shows a first user logging into his user account onthe wearable camera (701). The camera can capture video and/or audio,and begin streaming (702) the captured video and/or audio in real timeto the network. Other users can login using a computer or a smartphoneto view the content that is being streamed by the first user (703).Moreover, a plurality of users can communicate with each other and/orleave a commentary (704) as described in earlier sections of the presentdisclosure. Although in some existing applications (e.g., SKYPE®), twoor more users can connect to each other to conduct video conversations,the two or more users use computers to conduct the video conversations,and the users choose to specifically connect to each other. In otherexisting applications (e.g., sex chat rooms), users can stream theirvideo from their computer and have multiple users connect with eachother to view the video and interact with text. Other existingapplications (e.g., social networks) allow users to share text oroffline media (e.g., media that is not real-time) with specific users(e.g., “friends”, “subscribers” or “followers”). The embodiments ofpresent disclosure allows a user to wear an Internet- ornetwork-connected camera to allow a subset of users (e.g., his/herfriends) to connect to the camera's stream, as well as provide audiofeedback/commentary, visual or other forms of data, such as pointing toa webpage. By way of example and not of limitation, pointing to awebpage can provide relevant information to be displayed in a retinaldisplay or a goggle.

The examples set forth above are provided to give those of ordinaryskill in the art a complete disclosure and description of how to makeand use the embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intendedto limit the scope of what the inventors regard as their disclosure.Modifications of the above-described modes for carrying out thedisclosure may be used by persons of skill in the art, and are intendedto be within the scope of the following claims. All patents andpublications mentioned in the specification may be indicative of thelevels of skill of those skilled in the art to which the disclosurepertains. All references cited in this disclosure are incorporated byreference to the same extent as if each reference had been incorporatedby reference in its entirety individually.

It is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to particularmethods or systems, which can, of course, vary. It is also to beunderstood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescribing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to belimiting. As used in this specification and the appended claims, thesingular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless thecontent clearly dictates otherwise. The term “plurality” includes two ormore referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. Unlessdefined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein havethe same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in theart to which the disclosure pertains.

A number of embodiments of the disclosure have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of thefollowing claims.

1. A computer-implemented method of sharing an interactive experience,the method comprising: providing a central server connected to a networkand configured to be connected to a plurality of client computerterminals through the network, each of the plurality of client computerterminals adapted to stream a video from the network; streaming thevideo on the plurality of client computer terminals, the video beingviewed by a first user and at least one second user, the first user andthe at least one second user independently receiving streaming video onseparate client computer terminals, wherein the streaming to the firstuser and the at least one second user occurs synchronously such that aplayback timing of the streaming video occurs at the same time on allusers' client computer terminals; capturing commentary of the first userand the at least one second user with a commentary capturing device, thecapturing being performed while the first user and the at least onesecond user view the video; and playing back the commentary of the firstuser on the client computer terminal of the at least one second userand/or vice versa, while streaming the video.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the commentary capturingdevice is a camera or a microphone.
 3. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, wherein the commentary comprises a visible reaction, audiblereaction and/or haptic reaction.
 4. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the first user is able to control playback of thestreaming video while the at least one second user is unable to controlplayback of the streaming video.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the streaming video is stored on the central server ora server of a third party website.
 6. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, further comprising the first user turning off the commentary ofthe at least one second user, and/or the at least one second userturning off the commentary of the first user, according to userpreferences.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising ranking the commentary by a plurality of users, and selectingto playback the commentary meeting a set criteria.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the set criteria is arating hierarchy of the commentary, or the set criteria is apersonalization criteria of the user.
 9. The computer-implemented methodof claim 8, wherein the personalization criteria comprises an algorithmbased on historical preferences of the user.
 10. A computer-implementedmethod of sharing an interactive experience, the method comprising:providing a central server connected to a network and configured to beconnected to a plurality of client computer terminals through thenetwork, each of the plurality of client computer terminals adapted tostream a video from the network; streaming the video to a clientcomputer terminal of a first user of the plurality of client computerterminals, wherein the video is being viewed by the first user;capturing commentary of the first user with a commentary capturingdevice, the capturing being performed while the first user views thevideo; storing the commentary of the first user on the central server;and streaming the video to a client computer terminal of a second user,wherein the video is being viewed by the second user whilesimultaneously playing back the commentary of the first user on theclient computer terminal of the second user, wherein the streaming bythe second user occurs asynchronously from the streaming by the firstuser.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, furthercomprising capturing commentary of the second user with an audio/videocapturing device, the capturing being performed while the second userviews the view while simultaneously playing back the commentary of thefirst user.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein thecommentary of the first user and the commentary of the second user aremultiplexed on the central server.
 13. The computer-implemented methodof claim 10, wherein the commentary capturing device is a camera or amicrophone.
 14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein thecommentary comprises a visible reaction, audible reaction and/or hapticreaction.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein thenetwork is the Internet network.
 16. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 10, wherein the streaming video is stored on the central server ora server of a third party website.
 17. A computer-implemented system forsharing an interactive experience, the system comprising: a centralserver connected to a network and configured to be connected to aplurality of client computer terminals through the network, each of theplurality of client computer terminals adapted to stream a video fromthe network; and a commentary capturing device adapted to capturecommentary of one or more users while the one or more users view thevideo, wherein the client computer terminals are adapted to playback thecommentary of the one or more users simultaneously while streaming thevideo.
 18. The computer-implemented system of claim 17, wherein thecommentary are stored on the central server and adapted to be playedback on the plurality of client computer terminals, the commentaryplayed back according to preferences determined by the one or moreusers.
 19. The computer-implemented system of claim 17, wherein thecentral server comprises a plurality of commentary, the plurality ofcommentary being multiplexed at the central server before the pluralityof commentary is provided to the plurality of client computer terminals.20. The computer-implemented system of claim 17, wherein the videos arestored on the central server or a third party website, the videocomprising a timecode for synchronizing a timing of the commentary witha timing of the video.